Commitment 2013: Greenfield school district

Eight candidates are battling for three Greenfield school board seats.

GREENFIELD, Calif. -

The field of candidates running for the Greenfield Union School Board is the most crowded with eight candidates running for three open seats.

Greenfield has a small school district, with 3,309 students enrolled in four elementary schools and one middle school. The race is an important one as many changes are nearing, including more local control of state funding and the implementation of the common core state standards.

Incumbents Sonia Heredia and Maria Castillo have aligned themselves with Jesus Lepe, Principal of Frank Paul Elementary School in Salinas. Lepe has decades of experience as an educator. He’s worked in many facets, as a teacher in Los Angeles, and principal Mary Chapa Elementary in Greenfield.

Six months after accepting the position, Lepe resigned, and he’s been in the Alisal district ever since.

Lepe has two kids in the Greenfield district. He says it’s that personal connection to the city that drives him.

“We want a better quality education. We want to retain our teachers. We want to pay our teachers more because they’re leave. There is a high turnover rate and that’s a big issue and a big concern because they’re training with our kids and then leave for somewhere else,” Lepe said. Greenfield has some of the lowest paid teachers in the state.

Lepe’s running mate, board vice president Sonia Heredia, also has a background in education. Heredia minored in early childhood development in college. She currently works as a social worker for the Monterey County Office of Education, where she’s been employed for 18 years.

Heredia is a mother of four kids in the Greenfield district. She says she too wants to work on ways to keep teachers in the district as well as hire some new ones as well.When asked why she chose to run with a group, Heredia explained “So we can collaborate ahead of time working together for the best interests of the students and we have a lot of the same goals that we want to bring back for our community”.

Maria Castillo worked as an aid for 10 years in the North Monterey County Unified School District. Castillo has worked in classrooms with kids from Kindergarten through High School. Today, you’ll find her working for the One Stop Career Center in Salinas.

Castillo says one change she’s truly proud of in Greenfield is the introduction of more technology in the classrooms and wants to see more resources directed that way “I particularly want to ensure that the resources we are going to be getting, because we are going to be having more local control with our funding, it goes to our students and we bring in more resources”.

If Lepe, Heredia and Castillo are elected to the board, it would be a violation of the brown act for all three of them to meet and discuss board matters outside of a board meeting.

Not everyone wants to see three people dominate the board, like Greenfield mother of two and Special Education Teacher at San Vicente Elementary in Soledad, Sandra Cante.Cante attends board meetings and has been watching its moves closely. She says she’s observed a split in the board, firsthand and doesn’t want to see the district’s progress derailed by personal agendas. Cante’s, husband is also involved and employed by the district. Angel Cante is the executive assistant under the superintendent.

If elected, Cante would legally be required to recuse herself from any vote involving her husband and was adamant that even if she wasn’t required to, she would anyway. Cante says she isn’t trying to personally gain anything from sitting on the board, swearing she just wants what’s best for the students

“I am born and raised in Greenfield, and I love Greenfield. I was living in San Diego, and me and my husband chose to come back to Greenfield and raise our kids here. We’re passionate about the town and we’re passionate about moving our town forward and moving our schools forward,” Cante said.

Former board member and longtime educator Paul Dake wants to get back in the action. Dake served on the board for 6 years and 1 year as its president. He’s spent the last 27 years teaching in the Santa Rita School District.

“I have experience working with budgets. I’ve been a negotiator for the teachers in my union. I’ve also sat on the other side of the table with the school district. I have experience working with budgets in dealing with the union and my other experience with the school board so I understand the numbers. And as a teacher I understand what’s required for Common Core,” Dake said.

Candidate Leticia Martinez Argueta a parent of three kids in the district and is a fulltime caregiver for her parents. She too goes to board meetings to stay informed. She says the quality of education has improved recently and she can help keep up the momentum. She hopes she can bridge the gap between the board and the community.

Argueta moved to Greenfield from Mexico in 1979, she went to school in Greenfield and then King City.

Argueta doesn’t have an education background but worked in the banking industry, which, she says could be beneficial when dealing with budgets. “The children would be really important to me... I think it’s important, the education of our students. The basic thing is I want them to be successful in life, they are our leaders of our future” explains the candidate.

Board clerk Jose Vazquez, wants to land his seat for another term. Born in Mexico, Vazquez says he can relate to the struggles of many students in Greenfield. He too had to learn English as a second language. He explains, every vote he casts, is with the best interests of the students in mind.

Vazquez has a little history in the education field, he studied for two years to become a teacher. He says his focus is the quality of what’s being taught in the classrooms “I want what’s best for the students, my biggest concern going forward is education and safety”.

And lastly, retired Correctional Sergeant Juergen Smith is hoping he’ll be able to make major changes if elected to the board. Smith is unhappy with the way the current board is operating. Smith says he wants to see more money go to the students, school supplies and teachers.

Since retiring five years ago, Smith has spent his free time volunteering in the schools. He reads to Kindergarten classes, volunteers in the library and even plays Santa Claus at Christmas time.

He promises to maintain that hands on approach if chosen by the voters “We have four school sites. I’m willing to spend eight hours a day at each school site and on the fifth day I’m willing to go to another school district and meet another Superintendent. Any Superintendent here in Monterey County that’s providing a better education program than what is being currently provided.”

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